A closer look at Raymond R. Buys, Class of 1926 and president of the Sayville Alumni Association in 1930.

When members of the Sayville Alumni Association gathered for their annual meeting in December 1930, several officers reportedly declined nominations. Raymond R. Buys did not. The 21-year-old graduate of Sayville High School’s Class of 1926 accepted the presidency, succeeding Marion L. Hoag and taking charge of an organization built around fellowship, scholarships and the enduring pull of home.

The meeting was modest — just 35 people attended — but its plans were not. The association was preparing a December 27 dance designed to bring recent graduates back from their “various schools.” Lloyd Rohm reported that the scholarship fund stood at $60, and the published donor list included both Raymond Buys and Marinus Buys.

A West Sayville childhood

A FamilySearch marriage index records his full name as Raymond Reginald Buys. He was born January 31, 1909, in West Sayville, the son of Chris — or Christopher — and Cornelia “Katie” Buys. Census records place the family in Islip in 1910, 1915, 1920 and 1930. Raymond grew up with four siblings: Everett, Myron, Helen (or Helena) and Robert.

The household had Dutch roots. In the 1910 census, Christopher Buys reported that his own father had been born in the Netherlands.

Traces in the 1926 yearbook

The 1926 Sayville High School yearbook, Post Mortem, lists “Raymond R. Buys” in the class roll. He also appears on the yearbook’s editorial staff.

“If love is blind,” declared Ray Buys, “it gets that way from too many moonlight parties.”

Post Mortem, Class of 1926 “will” page

The line is playful, but it is also one of the few surviving moments in which Raymond’s own personality breaks through the official record. Four years later, his classmates entrusted him with the association’s gavel.

Marriage and a move to Patchogue

Raymond married Rose Devito in Suffolk County in April 1934. By 1940, Raymond and Rose were living in Patchogue, with Rose’s mother, Theresa Devito, in their household. He and Rose were still there when the 1950 census was taken.

A local-history publication identifies a Raymond Buys in a 1936 group photograph of the Patchogue Advance newspaper staff. The identification is intriguing but remains tentative — the available census summaries did not expose his occupation, so this thread still needs confirmation.

From Long Island to Florida

At some point after 1950, Raymond and Rose left Long Island. Raymond died March 10, 1990, in Ormond Beach, Florida, at the age of 81. He is buried at Volusia Memorial Park in Ormond Beach.

Much of Raymond Buys’s life remains just beyond the edge of the surviving record. Yet the pieces that do remain reveal a young man who stayed connected to the school and community that formed him.

Sources:

Sayville Alumni Association 1930 article, FamilySearch indexes, 1910 census, Post Mortem 1926 yearbook pages, Find a Grave memorial 205627270